African american applying to yale ea, help me out!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>So I did this already, but I got a few new things to put up that might alter my chances...check it out:</p>

<p>NUMBERS:
ACT: 35
Big boy SAT: 2170 (680CR, 760M, 730W) bleh, I am really not going to sit down and take this again
SAT IIs: 730 Chem, 740 Bio, 780 Math II
PSAT: 209
Unweighted GPA: 94.59/100, I definitely know my junior year grades (96.71) will bump it up to 95/95+, we do not weigh at my school and if we did, I would have a freaking 100+</p>

<p>COURSES:
Freshman year load:
-Honors biology
-Honors geometry
-Regular english (no honors offered)
-Regular world history (AP offered, didn't take because I was already in two honors classes and I wasn't allowed to take that and the AP World Class)
-Latin I</p>

<p>Sophomore year load:
-Honors physics
-Honors trigonometry
-Honors english
-Regular world history (part II)
-Latin II
-Intel Research class</p>

<p>Junior year load:
-AP Chem
-Honors precalculus
-AP English Composition
-AP US
-Intel Research class
-Latin III
-Yearbook</p>

<p>Senior year load:
-AP Bio
-AP Calc BC
-AP Literature
-AP Gov't
-AP Latin
-Yearbook
-Intel Research class</p>

<p>RECOMMENDATIONS:
Getting one from my Latin teacher (went to Barnard) and one from my biology/Intel teacher, both are excellent writers and both have known me for all my years at high school.
I am also getting an extra one from my piano teacher, who has known me for almost 10 years, and knows me very well.
Also getting one from my guidance counselor, who is incorporating the following into my rec: a questionnaire from me, one from my parents, two teacher raves (separate from teacher recs) and one peer rave (done by my friend who has known me since kindergarten) </p>

<p>ECS:
-Piano since 2nd grade, going to send in a tape of my past two concerts
-co-founder of Photography club at my school
-Photography editor of the yearbook
-Latin club since freshman year
-National Honor Society
-doing my Intel project at Mt. Sinai on stem cells, been working there since summer before junior year
-going to volunteer/intern with a surgeon at my dad's hospital</p>

<p>RANDOM STUFF ABOUT ME:
Intended Major: Biology
State: New York
School Type: very competitive nationally recognized school, 700+ kids in our grade, public
Ethnicity: African-American
Gender: Female
Income: $150,000-$200,000 (not much of a chance for financial aid, eh?)</p>

<p>MY LIMITED LIST OF AWARDS:
-two Magna Cum Laudes in the National Latin Exam (2008, 2009)
-one Maxima Cum Laude in the National Latin Exam (2010)
-second place winner of a nationwide story writing contest (a mythology story, 2009)
-National Merit Commended (definitely not getting Semi though...)
-most likely National Achievement, but haven't heard from them yet</p>

2

<p>Excellent chance (I would say ~80% chance of being accepted EA or getting deferred and then accepted).</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>No, you have a decent shot for financial aid. You should definitely apply for it.</p>

3

<p>Silverturtle seriously overestimates your chances.</p>

<p>You are very qualified, but still do not have that kind of chance of getting in. You have as good a chance as you could ask for. Unfortunately, that’s still not a very good one.</p>

<p>Nothing personal. This is just Yale.</p>

4

<p>I stand by my estimate unless IBfootballer can produce data that contradict it.</p>

5

<p>I would agree with st that the OP is in very good shape, although I won’t put a percentage on it because of the intangibles that no one can see in a profile like this. The OP is a high achieving AA at a competitive HS. GPA & testing is great and coursework looks strong (can’t tell if it’s THE most rigorous without seeing the school profile). Selective colleges will not need to worry about such a student succeeding, and so they are very sought after.</p>

<p>OP, run the Y FA calculator and do consider applying for FA. Income is the main, but not the only factor in FA eligibility; although if your family has substantial assets, that will likely send you over the threshold.</p>

6

<p>I’ll provide some support for my estimate. These come from the Yale 2013 and 2014 decisions threads (SCEA and RD). I include all African American domestic applicants who were accepted, deferred (when I know the eventual result of the deferral), waitlisted, and rejected. The SAT score is followed by the unweighted GPA.</p>

<p>Accepted:
2380 – 4.0
2200 – 4.0
2350 – 3.9
2350 – 3.9
2270 – 3.85
2120 – 94.3/100
1950 – 3.1
1980 – 4.0
2230 – 3.95
2170 – 4.0
2160 – 3.9
1980 – (Not given)
2090 – 3.9
2190 – 4.0
2070 – 3.89</p>

<p>Waitlisted:
2300 – 3.83 waitlisted</p>

<p>Rejected:
2000 – 3.2 rejected</p>

<p>80% is probably a bit conservative actually (especially if the essays and recommendations are strong).</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, quantifying things is always a bit hazy. Nonetheless, it is difficult to verbally convey things well, so I occasionally result to providing a rough estimate.</p>

8

<p>My school has one of the toughest IB programmes in the world. 28 people applied early action, including several URMs with near-perfect stats and stellar applications. 23 rejected, 5 deferred. No acceptances EA.</p>

<p>One eventual RD acceptance (not of a URM).</p>

<p>If someone’s practically guaranteeing you an acceptance to Yale, they are either lying, deluded, or mistaking you for someone else who has their name on a building there.</p>

<p>I don’t doubt you’re a really smart dude. You just have to understand that there are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of URM applicants with better scores, better grades, and better applications. That’s what you get into when you deal with Yale. It’s just that insanely competitive.</p>

9

<p>^ Please see post #6.</p>

10

<p>I agree with silverturtle, although I wouldn’t put a percentage on it.
Considering your ethnic status, of which I am very jealous as an asian (only in terms of college admission, tho), you will PROBABLY get in.
People can try to contradict me, but believe me. when the decision day comes, african american applicants like these always get in.</p>

11

<p>OP: You will probably get in. Just realize that if you were white or Asian, your chances would be much lower.</p>

12

<p>

I personally believe this 80% estimate is probably close to correct, based on some actual statistics I read in other threads in this website, some of which were the basis of the book “The Early Admissions Game.” With a perfect or near perfect ACT score you probably increase your chances to around 50%. The URM hook is another significant bump. </p>

<p>OTOH, there’s no way I believe that less than 20 self-reported results on a message board constitute reliable data (although in this case they may coincidentally lead to the correct estimate). Not only do people lie, but it is an extremely self-selecting population. My experience is that people engaged in a competitve or selective process are far more likely to report successful results than un-successful results. I post to a message board for engineers taking the Professional Engineering exam. The pass rates are notoriously low for this exam, but every administration only a small handful of posters report failing grades.</p>

<p>note: I think the statistics I read were posted by someone named siserune. But I’m not going to dig back to find them. They were fairly convincing, and actually caused me to change my mind about the strength of the correlation between very high standardized test scores and successful admissions.</p>

13

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</p>

<p>The OP is one of those people, though. :slight_smile: The small sample size is problematic, however; I was merely attempting to rationalize to some extent my estimation.</p>

14

<p>^^Yes, I understand. Some data is always better than none. And like I said, I think your estimate is probably pretty close, to the extent you can put a percentage on it.</p>

15

<p>One more positive factor that I forgot, the OP is an AA interested in science; and with the coursework, testing and ECs to support their interest.</p>

16

<p>I had similar stats (slightly higher UW GPA, slightly lower standardized test score), and was waitlisted. (However, I was interested in humanities/social sciences, if that makes a difference.) I did not stay on the waitlist, though, so remain uncertain of what the outcome could have been.</p>

<p>I think OP has an excellent shot, especially if she does not bomb her interview like I did.</p>

17

<p>Thanks for the replies guys…I think I’ve got a good sense of where I stand. ;)</p>

18

<p>entomom: I would disagree that a science-y focused black applicant is a plus factor. In general URM applicants tend towards science or pre-med. </p>

<p>Unless there are significant honors (which would set any applicant apart), just being black interested in science or pre-med – very common. </p>

<p>Less common? Being black and wanting to major in French Literature or something less than mainstream.</p>

19

<p>@T26E4: Yes, but don’t girls interested in science usually get a lot of attention? Just wondering.</p>

20

<p>Girls in math definitely get a boost. Girls going into bio are more common so it may matter less. You will have a solid shot, but don’t let anybody lull you into thinking it’s a done deal.</p>